Bavo Defurne

Having won plaudits with his short films on the festival circuit, Bavo Defurne is taking the leap into features with North Sea, Texas. The film, based on a novel called ‘This Will Never End’ by André Sollie, is a coming of age story with a strong romantic undertow. It follows a young boy called Pim from when he is eight until his mid-teens. He is a lonely kid who yearns for love. In his adolescence, his affections turn toward Gino, the rugged, motorcycling boy next door. Text: Geoffrey Macnab | Portrait: Bart Dewaele

‘We saw more than 200!’ Defurne says of the vast number of young hopefuls who auditioned for the role of Pim in the film. The director knew exactly what he was looking for... ‘bluntly, good actors!’ He adds that the actors he chose to play Pim at different ages needed to have an innocence about them but also to be wise and worldly enough to understand the story.

‘It is hard to be an adolescent anyway and it's even harder to play an adolescent with all the things that are happening in their mind and body,’ the director reflects on his search for the perfect Pims. ‘And if you get people who are too mature, too old, it can be very hard to play an innocence that you don't have any more.’

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